editor’s letter

Another year is drawing to a close and all seems well with the game of rugby in New Zealand.

But how much is opinion about the general health of rugby in New Zealand affected by specific feelings about the All Blacks? Have we reached the stage where we now see All Black success as synonymous with overall health? Probably. And we need to be careful because there are a few areas that need reasonably urgent attention.

First, though, let’s celebrate the good bits of 2014. Probably the most significant development came in late October when the New Zealand Rugby Union announced they have reached a conditional offer to continue with Sky as the host broadcaster of ITM Cup, Super Rugby and the All Blacks.

The importance of this deal is huge: broadcast income forms more than a third of New Zealand Rugby’s total revenue. Sky have signed a five- year deal from 2016 and the certainty that comes with that is vital.

The trick to running a successful rugby union is to be able to make accurate long- term forecasts. To do that, the bulk of income has to be locked in for significant periods.

Knowing the likely financial lie of the land a few years down the track enables the NZRU to invest and contract with certainty. They know what they can afford to pay – who they can keep and who they might have to let go.

Details haven’t yet been announced, but it is believed that Sky, to prevent the contract being put out to tender, have paid a premium to secure the rights. So, there will be more money in the coffers.

The All Black brand also took another step towards global domination so to speak. The test at Soldier Field was a remarkable and quite fantastic occasion.

Forget the scoreline, the bigger picture and all the cynical talk of it being purely about satisfying the desires of main sponsor AIG. More than 60,000 people crammed into an iconic NFL stadium and rugby had its moment in the sun. No other team could have generated such interest and what, really, is the argument against the All Blacks having been in the US?

What was the alternative? To not go? To say it would be better to not try to grow the sport?

The performances of the All Blacks; the depth they have built and their relentless drive for improvement were of course, once again, other major highlights of 2014.

So what about the bad? Is it a little negative to be overly worried when the All Blacks are playing so well, doing so much right and giving themselves every chance of defending their world title next year? When Sky have upped their investment and the other major sponsors are already locked in for the long haul... shouldn’t there just be unmitigated celebration?

Well... no. Looking beyond the All Blacks, the New Zealand Under 20s were again a little poor.

Yes, they have more of a long term development brief than perhaps the likes of England and South Africa do, but still, winning is important and the New Zealand team looked to have, collectively and individually, inferior skill- sets to their main rivals.

The Sevens team lost the final at the Commonwealth Games – not a disaster by any means – but an illustration of how competitive the abbreviated form of the game is becoming as a result of Olympic inclusion.

The Black Ferns had a horror campaign – losing to Ireland and getting nowhere near the knock- out rounds. They need a bit of soul searching and honest reviewing and tough questions will have to be asked, starting with whether they are fit enough.

The NZRU also needs to consider providing a bit more support for the Ferns. The national body wants and expects results – and to get those, they have to be prepared to invest money and resource.

Overall playing numbers were up and that is a positive. Yet what was reiterated again this year is that the NZRU has to battle tirelessly for the tiniest gains. The numbers were up, but only just – which has been the story for the last five years or so.

Rugby has not one inch of room in which to be complacent and that battle for hearts and minds needs to be fought just as fiercely to grow, or at least slow the decline, of the stadium audience.

There’s no escaping the fact that New Zealand is not persuading people to buy tickets and sample rugby live. The stadium experience is not connecting with people and again, if everyone is honest, they will have to ask if they are doing enough to sell the game appropriately.

Pricing is definitely realistic and competitive – which suggests there is fault somewhere else. The catering, the seats, access, views, flow of information in regard to what is actually happening and peripheral entertainment... are all of these boxes being ticked?

All of the problems are fixable... if they are firstly acknowledged then tackled. And that needs to happen.

The threat to the overall health of the game is not serious at this stage. Let these problems rumble into next year and the All Blacks don’t win the World Cup... the game will appear then to be an entirely different state.

Gregor Paul, Editor